SIBU: The University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) has established new local and international partnerships to research climate change and cultural heritage mapping.
In a brief ceremony held in its Lecture Hall yesterday UTS represented by its vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Khairuddin Abdul Hamid has signed the first memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malmo University Sweden.
According to the UTS spokesman, the MoU aimed to increase cooperation in undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate exchange, staff and researcher mobility as well as aiming to enhance cooperation in research and project development.
The partnership also enhances cooperation in online course development, PhD teaching or supervision, joint academic seminars, conferences, summer schools, field trips, and internships.
“The partnership between Malmo University recently has won a competitive grant from Crafoord Foundation for establishing indigenous climate observation in Lesotho, Eswatini and Sarawak,” he said.
UTS said that the project aimed to support the indigenous community in tracking the changes in their local climate that affected their livelihood so that they could use the data to make decisions about their own future and adapt to the local climate change.
“Another partnership agreement that has been signed in the ceremony was UTS partnership with Sarawak Development Institute to develop a digital platform Crowdsourced Heritage Automation Mapping Platform for Sarawak (CHAMPS).
“To be developed by UTS, CHAMPS is an interactive map of the Kuching Division that displays entries pegged to geographical locations.
“It has the ability to display a variety of Interesting data which includes pictures, videos, significant dates, historical / background information, and others,” he said.
He also said that the geographical coverage of this project would include both urban and rural areas.
Entries into the CHAMPS platform will be sourced from a variety of parties, including ethnic associations, arts, and cultural groups, academics, artisans, tourism industry players, religious bodies, and the public.
Outcomes of this project will be useful in the areas of tourism such as heritage trail mapping, education, research, heritage preservation, and government planning.
The project which is funded by the Sarawak Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts is expected to be completed in three years (2022 to 2024).
In the exchange ceremony yesterday, the respective organisations were represented by Sarawak Development Institute chief executive officer Lelia Sim Ah Hua and Malmö University representative Dr Lizette Reitsma.
The event was witnessed by Sarawak Deputy Minister for Education and Innovation Dr Annuar Rapaee, who is also UTS chairman, and Deputy Minister in the Premier of Sarawak’s Department (Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring) Datuk Gerawat Gala.
